Cart

A BMW from the best

If you’ve been into custom BMW’s for a while, then the name Ritmo Sereno will be a familiar one. If not, its former front man Shiro Nakajima is widely credited as having kicked off the custom airheads craze that has taken over the world.

Having parted ways with Ritmo Sereno, Nakajima is thankfully still putting together beautiful BMW’s, now under the name 46 Works. The bike in front of you is based on BMW’s R100S but with things spiced up, considerably. Nakajima is famed for his fabrication skills, and the Japanese bike builder has gone to town on the old airhead.

The first thing that strikes you is the bike’s stumpy new dimensions. The tank is a Heinrich replica and exaggerates the tiny subframe with its tall height and long knee indents. The hand made seat cowl, tubular swing arm and hand rolled rear fender shrink the bike down, while the swing arm converts the early R100s from twin to single shock, with the bike now held up by a trick Ohlins shock.

Speaking of chunky suspension, the original front forks have been ditched in favour of a set from BMW’s far newer R nine T. The fully adjustable forks also bring with them some tasty radial Brembo brakes and master cylinder, while front and rear wheels are now hand laced 17inch Excel items.

The 980cc horizontally opposed twin, while looking relatively stock at a glance, has been treated to a complete rebuild with hotter parts where it counts. The pistons are lighter and increase the bike’s compression ratio, while fuel is now fed by dual FCR flatside carbs – a big step up from the original Bings. The new FCRs are still fed by the original airbox, which is now fed by a beautiful hand made ram air duct.

Further hints to the increased performance are the hand bent titanium headers and silencer. The two-into-one system is a trademark of Nakajima, with the organic bends framing the hot twin and will continue to provide some tasty colour as the titanium burns in.

Speaking of colour, the frame and tank have been hit with different shades of rich red, while the tank features a colour fade graphic that harks back to BMW’s first superbike, the R90S.

The Kommune has a bunch of tasty BMW builds in progress and here’s hoping 46 Works’ R100S can serve as inspiration. After all, if you’re going to take inspiration for a build, you might as well take it from the original and the best.